John Ortberg Quotes

Powerful John Ortberg for Daily Growth

About John Ortberg

John Ortberg is an esteemed American author, pastor, and speaker, known for his insightful interpretations of Christianity and its applications in contemporary life. Born on January 8, 1956, in Seattle, Washington, he grew up in a family deeply rooted in the Christian faith. His father, James Ortberg, was a prominent evangelist and author. This early exposure to spirituality significantly influenced John's personal journey and professional career. John graduated from the University of California, Berkeley, with a Bachelor of Arts degree in English. He then attended Fuller Theological Seminary, where he earned his Master of Divinity degree. In 1984, he became the Associate Pastor at Menlo Park Presbyterian Church in Menlo Park, California. Since 2000, he has served as Senior Pastor, leading the church with wisdom and compassion. Ortberg's writing career took off in 1996 with the publication of his first book, "The Me I Want to Be: Becoming God's Best Version of You." This book became a bestseller, setting the stage for his future works. His other notable books include "Soul Keeping," "If God Wrote Your Bucket List," and "The Life Jesus Wants for You." Ortberg is also known for his thought-provoking sermons, many of which have been compiled into books. He has a gift for making complex theological concepts accessible and relevant to everyday life. His works often explore themes such as spiritual growth, character development, and the intersection of faith and culture. In addition to his writing and pastoral work, John is also a popular speaker at conferences and events worldwide. He continues to inspire and challenge audiences with his unique blend of biblical insight, personal anecdotes, and practical wisdom.

Interpretations of Popular Quotes

"God is not a cosmic bellhop, ready to jump whenever we press our divine call button."

This quote by John Ortberg suggests that people should not expect God to immediately respond or fulfill their desires every time they pray or ask for help. Instead, it implies that God is not an attendant waiting on command, but a being of greater depth and complexity who operates beyond our immediate needs and expectations. The message encourages individuals to deepen their understanding and relationship with God, recognizing Him as a spiritual entity rather than a divine assistant.

"The gospel is this: We are more sinful and flawed in ourselves than we ever dared believe, yet at the very same time we are more loved and accepted in Jesus Christ than we ever dared hope."

This quote by John Ortberg eloquently conveys the paradoxical nature of human existence within the context of faith. It suggests that as individuals, we often underestimate our own flaws, shortcomings, and sinfulness, a truth that can be uncomfortable to acknowledge. Simultaneously, it underscores the boundless love and acceptance offered by Jesus Christ, a love that transcends our deepest fears and doubts about worthiness or deservingness. In essence, Ortberg's quote encourages us to confront our imperfections honestly while simultaneously offering hope in the knowledge that we are deeply loved and accepted through faith in Jesus Christ.

"God doesn't want us to be perfect; He wants us to be broken, because that is the only shape we will fit any of His plans for our lives."

This quote suggests that God values authenticity and vulnerability over perfection in individuals. The idea is that the process of life often breaks us down, revealing our flaws and imperfections, but it's through these broken places that we can be most effectively molded according to God's plans for our lives. In other words, embracing our brokenness allows us to fit into God's designs for us more seamlessly, making us more open to the transformative work He intends to accomplish in us.

"The question to ask is not 'What do I want God to do for me?' but rather 'What does God want me to do for Him?'"

This quote emphasizes a shift in perspective when it comes to our relationship with God. Instead of focusing on what we can gain from Him, we should concentrate on what He wants us to contribute or do for Him. In essence, it's about moving away from self-centeredness towards service and obedience to God.

"Hope is a function of your relationship with God, not the state of your circumstances."

This quote suggests that hope, a belief in a positive outcome or expectation for the future, is more dependent on one's spiritual connection (relationship with God) than on the current or temporary state of one's circumstances. Essentially, John Ortberg is stating that even when circumstances seem challenging, if an individual has faith and trust in God, they can find hope because their relationship with the divine offers a source of comfort, guidance, and promise for a brighter future.

God has entrusted us with his most precious treasure - people. He asks us to shepherd and mold them into strong disciples, with brave faith and good character.

- John Ortberg

Strong, Good Character, Mold, Faith

Being deeply contented with God in my everyday life is a focused attitude. It is always available. It means practicing letting go of my obsession with how I'm doing. It means training myself to learn to actually be present with people, and seeking to love them.

- John Ortberg

Love, Doing, Available, Practicing

I don't have a problem with delegation. I love to delegate. I am either lazy enough, or busy enough, or trusting enough, or congenial enough, that the notion leaving tasks in someone else's lap doesn't just sound wise to me, it sounds attractive.

- John Ortberg

Love, Lazy, Sound, Congenial

Tithing is considerably less popular than words like generosity or sharing.

- John Ortberg

Like, Than, Considerably, Generosity

Authority can be faked. That's why impersonating a police officer is a crime. Sometimes the outward appearances of authority can be deceiving.

- John Ortberg

Sometimes, Officer, Deceiving

To have my mind racing and my heart beating fast over glorious possibilities is very close to the summit of life experience for me.

- John Ortberg

Mind, Possibilities, Over, Beating

Preaching a series allows you to go into greater depth in the text, and spending several weeks on one theme allows the teaching to be absorbed more thoroughly.

- John Ortberg

More, Weeks, Thoroughly, Depth

I wrote 'Soul Keeping' because we are taught more about how to care for our cars than how to steward our souls. But you cannot have an impactful life with an impoverished soul.

- John Ortberg

Soul, More, Keeping, Steward

From ancient times, the core idea of the soul is the soul is the capacity to integrate different functions into a single being or into a single person. The soul is what holds us all together: what connects our will and our minds and our bodies and connects us to God.

- John Ortberg

Soul, Idea, Functions, Integrate

There are dozens of references to God in the Scriptures for every one to the figure of Satan. This reflects a sometimes forgotten theological truth that the devil is by no means God's counterpart. He is a creature, not the Creator.

- John Ortberg

Means, Dozens, Figure, Theological

The toppling of idols - even respectable, admired, best-practice, fastest-growing idols - is always the road to liberation.

- John Ortberg

Always, Admired, Even, Liberation

At the heart of Christian faith is the story of Jesus' death and resurrection.

- John Ortberg

Death, Christian, Jesus, Resurrection

Death is the prerequisite to resurrection, the new life God intends.

- John Ortberg

Death, New, Prerequisite, Resurrection

Those of us who preach the Scriptures, along with being nourished by it ourselves, have to figure out along with our congregations how we can incarnate the gospel in our community, or we will preach to a religious ghetto.

- John Ortberg

Will, Religious, Figure, Nourished

When the soul is understood and attended to, we can be liberated from hurry, preoccupation, unsatisfied desires, and chronic discontent.

- John Ortberg

Soul, Attended, Unsatisfied, Discontent

Sometimes in churches somebody will discover a particular vein of spirituality and seek to recruit others into it, or assume a superior position because they have found certain techniques - but no one actually wants to become like them.

- John Ortberg

Sometimes, Seek, Found, Churches

Churches can become places of cynicism, resistance, and pessimism.

- John Ortberg

Places, Cynicism, Pessimism, Churches

Churches need to figure out how they will address the spiritual lives of their staffs and leadership teams.

- John Ortberg

Address, Figure, Lives, Churches

Jesus is why women have traveled continents, spent decades learning a strange language so they could translate the Gospel, planting churches, caring for the sick, educating the illiterate, and marching for the oppressed.

- John Ortberg

Why, Could, Spent, Churches

Prudence is foresight and far-sightedness. It's the ability to make immediate decisions on the basis of their longer-range effects.

- John Ortberg

Ability, Effects, Immediate, Decisions

In community, we discover who we really are and how much transformation we still require. This is why I am irrevocably committed to small groups. Through them, we can accomplish our God-entrusted work to transform human beings.

- John Ortberg

Small, Why, Through, Irrevocably

Over time, grit is what separates fruitful lives from aimlessness.

- John Ortberg

Grit, Over, Lives, Separates

We all want to feel spiritually vigorous, and we hurt when we don't. This pain is intensified for people who lead church ministries.

- John Ortberg

Pain, Church, Want, Intensified

When it comes to sermon writing, generally there are two problems. Some preachers love the research stage but hate the writing, and they start writing too late. Others don't like doing research, so they move way too fast to the writing part.

- John Ortberg

Love, Doing, Some, Preachers

Congregations shaped by the Scriptures generally have preachers who are shaped by the Scriptures.

- John Ortberg

Shaped, Scriptures, Preachers

As a preacher, my charge is to proclaim the message of the Scriptures. To help the people in my congregation become a people of the book. I love getting to do this.

- John Ortberg

Love, Book, Charge, Scriptures

My wife is one of the most extroverted people I know. She could out-talk Oprah and Joyce Meyer simultaneously.

- John Ortberg

Wife, Could, Oprah, Simultaneously

The only true and lasting inspiration for life is genuine love for God, and submitted gratitude that I get to be a part of the redemptive quest.

- John Ortberg

Love, Inspiration, Part, Submitted

Pastors have historically understood their primary battle to be not the battle to build a big church, but the battle against the power of sin.

- John Ortberg

Battle, Big, Build, Pastors

Skill at helping people grow spiritually, like skill at playing chess, depends on understanding and valuing differences.

- John Ortberg

Chess, Grow, Valuing, Helping People

In my love-challenged condition, seeing a difficulty for someone else can leave me feeling a little more smug or superior-by-comparison.

- John Ortberg

Feeling, More, Difficulty, Smug

I have always heard that you need to give yourself a long time to unplug when you do a sabbatical. I unplugged so fast I was a little concerned that I was losing brain capacity.

- John Ortberg

Give, Always, Concerned, Unplug

One of the reasons I'm an interesting person to be married to is my intensely late-blooming self-awareness.

- John Ortberg

Person, Intensely, Reasons, Self-Awareness

Both hope and pessimism are deeply contagious. And no one is more infectious than a leader.

- John Ortberg

Pessimism, Infectious, Contagious

'Amusement' is appealing because we don't have to think; it spares us the fear and anxiety that might otherwise prey on our thoughts.

- John Ortberg

Thoughts, Think, Otherwise, Spares

Universities such as Cambridge, Oxford, and Harvard all began as Jesus-inspired efforts to love God with all ones' mind.

- John Ortberg

Love, Mind, Began, Cambridge

Normally, if someone's legacy will outlast their life, it's apparent when they die. On the day when Alexander the Great, or Caesar Augustus, or Napoleon, or Socrates, or Muhammad died, their reputations were immense. When Jesus died, his tiny, failed movement appeared clearly at an end.

- John Ortberg

Legacy, Die, Reputations, Apparent

Tithing is like training wheels when it comes to giving. It's intended to help you get started, but not recommended for the Tour de France.

- John Ortberg

Training, Wheels, Like, Recommended

Gratitude is what we radiate when we experience grace, and the soul was made to run on grace the way a 747 runs on rocket fuel.

- John Ortberg

Soul, Fuel, Made, Runs

Jesus viewed his own destiny - to be glorified in and through death - as an expression of a kind of cosmic principle: the pathway to life runs through death.

- John Ortberg

Destiny, Through, Cosmic, Runs

I am a political junkie. During a presidential campaign, I will often buy a couple of newspapers a day just to keep up.

- John Ortberg

Will, Buy, Couple, Presidential

It strikes me that presidential campaigns can often bring out the worst as well as the best in us.

- John Ortberg

Me, Campaigns, Strikes, Presidential

God has decided, for his own good reasons, that people are not transformed outside of community.

- John Ortberg

Reasons, Decided, His, Transformed

There are no clear boundary lines between what is physiological, what is psychological, and what is spiritual. Those are language domains that make sense and have integrity but overlap significantly.

- John Ortberg

Boundary, Psychological, Overlap

Learning something new is a fabulous way to be refreshed. When work can grind you down, something about learning a new activity thrills the soul. It reminds you that the world is bigger than your desk and your to-do list.

- John Ortberg

New, Activity, Refreshed, Reminds

Prudence is what makes someone a great commodities trader - the capacity to face reality squarely in the eye without allowing emotion or ego to get in the way. It's what is needed by every quarterback or battlefield general.

- John Ortberg

Face Reality, Needed, Makes, Squarely

I am struck by how quickly I am prone to judgmentalism.

- John Ortberg

I Am, How, Quickly, Struck

My main job is to live with deep contentment, joy, and confidence in my everyday experience of life with God. Everything else is job number two.

- John Ortberg

Confidence, Deep, Main, Everything Else

I hate how hard spiritual transformation is and how long it takes. I hate thinking about how many people have gone to church for decades and remain joyless or judgmental or bitter or superior.

- John Ortberg

Church, About, Remain, Decades

Spiritual formation is for everyone. Just as there is an 'outer you' that is being formed and shaped all the time, like it or not, by accident or on purpose, so there is an 'inner you.' You have a spirit. And it's constantly being shaped and tugged at: by what you hear and watch and say and read and think and experience.

- John Ortberg

Purpose, Shaped, Formation, Formed

- John Ortberg

Purpose, Everyone, Like, Formed

The question isn't if someone will sign up for spiritual formation; it's just who and what our spirits will be formed by.

- John Ortberg

Question, Will, Sign, Formed

As a preacher who is fully human, and clearly not divine, I can't speak as Jesus did. But I do seek to speak truth that carries weight and authority. All of us who preach the gospel aspire to speak under the authority of Jesus.

- John Ortberg

Clearly, Weight, Divine, Fully

When I teach the formal curriculum, I have the chance to think about it ahead of time. I can rehearse it. I can illustrate it with self-deprecating humor and humble-sounding personal disclosure. I can try to make it comes out just right.

- John Ortberg

Think, Self-Deprecating, Curriculum

A simple way to address hidden curriculum issues is to spend time talking with staff and key leaders about their spiritual lives.

- John Ortberg

Hidden, Address, Lives, Curriculum

Sin is, somehow, at the root of all human misery. Sin is what keeps us from God and from life. It is in the face of every battered woman, the cry of every neglected child, the despair of every addict, the death of every victim of every war.

- John Ortberg

Death, Woman, Misery, Addict

Some leaders are not intimidated by opposition; they actually thrive on it. It wakes them up. It energizes them. It calls them to battle. It causes them to mobilize their thoughts and energy.

- John Ortberg

Thoughts, Some, Leaders, Thrive

This much I have learned: human beings come with very different sets of wiring, different interests, different temperaments, different learning styles, different gifts, different temptations. These differences are tremendously important in the spiritual formation of human beings.

- John Ortberg

Learning, Differences, Very, I Have Learned

Ghettos and barrios and abusive homes and trauma wards may produce scarred souls; they can cripple more human spirits than they strengthen.

- John Ortberg

More, Trauma, May, Scarred

When someone is in crisis, don't start by teaching, leveraging, or explaining. Just be with.

- John Ortberg

Crisis, Someone, Just Be, Explaining

Politics, after all, is largely about power. And power goes to the core of our issues of control and narcissism and need to be right and tendency to divide the human race into 'us' vs. 'them.'

- John Ortberg

Politics, Race, Need, Narcissism

Actually, my character needs to be questioned. On a regular basis. By people who know and love me.

- John Ortberg

Love, Needs, Questioned, Regular

In the context of worship, amusement is a waste of time and a waste of life, and therefore a form of sin.

- John Ortberg

Waste, Context, Form, Worship

Sometimes, an inability to believe in Satan reflects a larger inability to believe in a spiritual plane at all.

- John Ortberg

Larger, Plane, Inability, Reflects

Amusement is a way of boredom-avoidance through external stimulation that fails to exercise our minds. It's mere diversion.

- John Ortberg

Exercise, Through, Our, External

I hate how spiritual formation gets positioned as an optional pursuit for a small special interest group within the church.

- John Ortberg

Small, Pursuit, Within, Group

The church is in the hope business. We, of all people, ought to be known most for our hope because our hope is founded on something deeper than human ability or wishful thinking.

- John Ortberg

Business, Church, Wishful, All People

Sloth is the failure to do what needs to be done when it needs to be done - like the kamikaze pilot who flew seventeen missions.

- John Ortberg

Pilot, Like, Needs, Sloth

Prudence is not the same thing as caution. Caution is a helpful strategy when you're crossing a minefield; it's a disaster when you're in a gold rush.

- John Ortberg

Same Thing, Crossing, Rush, Strategy

For most of us, the great danger is not that we will renounce our faith. It is that we will become so distracted and rushed and preoccupied that we will settle for a mediocre version of it. We will just skim our lives instead of actually living them.

- John Ortberg

Living, Preoccupied, Lives, Distracted

'Who Is This Man?' is about the impact of Jesus on human history. Most people - including most Christians - simply have no idea of the extent to which we live in a Jesus-impacted world.

- John Ortberg

Including, Extent, Which, Human History

Women are the first witnesses to the resurrection and pillars of the early church.

- John Ortberg

Church, Pillars, First, Women Are

The soul is both the most fragile and most resilient thing about you; a healthy soul is what holds you together when your world falls apart. Since you will carry your soul into eternity, it's worth checking up on it at least as often as your teeth.

- John Ortberg

Soul, Checking, About, Apart

Evil exists. Evil is real. One of the hallmarks of evil is that it seeks to convince its victims that it exists 'out there.'

- John Ortberg

Evil, Convince, Exists, Seeks

I need an inspiration that is grounded in reality while thoroughly transcendent.

- John Ortberg

Reality, Need, Thoroughly, Transcendent

I know that those of us who go into church work are to regard ourselves as servants, are to offer our lives as a gift.

- John Ortberg

Work, Gift, Lives, Servants

The single dynamic that helps people be most aware of God and most experiencing the fruit of the Spirit is gratitude.

- John Ortberg

Single, Aware, Most, Helps

Jesus' life as a foot-washing servant would eventually lead to the adoption of humility as a widely admired virtue.

- John Ortberg

Jesus, Admired, Servant, Adoption

Art is built on the deepest themes of human meaning: good and evil, beauty and ugliness, life and death, love and hate. No other story has incarnated those themes more than the story of Jesus.

- John Ortberg

Love, Art, Other, Life And Death

Tithing is a bad ceiling but an excellent floor.

- John Ortberg

Bad, Excellent, Ceiling, Floor

Prudence is not hesitation, procrastination, or moderation. It is not driving in the middle of the road. It is not the way of ambivalence, indecision, or safety.

- John Ortberg

Road, Driving, Middle, Indecision

People with the strongest and healthiest sense of calling are not obsessed with their calling. They are preoccupied with the Caller.

- John Ortberg

Sense, Obsessed, Preoccupied, Strongest

Although the church has often been far too slow to follow his lead, Jesus' insistence that women, as well as men, bear the full image of God has had a way of sparking reform movements across the centuries.

- John Ortberg

Church, Been, Had, Insistence

I'm not sure ministry can ever have the urgency it requires if it is not aware of evil, both externally and internally.

- John Ortberg

Aware, Sure, Ever, Requires

The human longings that are deep inside of us never go away. They exist across cultures; they exist throughout life. When people were first made, our deepest longing was to know and be known. And after the Fall, when we all got weird, it's still our deepest longing - but it's now also our deepest fear.

- John Ortberg

Deep, Inside, Away, Longing

I have given up the idea that there is an opposition-free church out there. But I have gained something else - an appreciation for the gift of opposition. When it comes, I learn something about my motives. When it comes, I get to test my courage.

- John Ortberg

Gift, Test, Given, Gained

Jesus had a universal concern for those who suffered that transcended the rules of the ancient world.

- John Ortberg

World, Jesus, Suffered, Universal

The New Testament doesn't present Jesus as a single man to cover up his humanity. It presents him as a single man because... he was a single man.

- John Ortberg

New, Him, Testament, New Testament

The hurried can become unhurried. But it will not happen by trying alone, nor will it happen instantly. You will have to enter a life of training.

- John Ortberg

Training, Will, Happen, Enter

Sin is protean. It is a cancer that keeps mutating, and just when you think you have killed off one form, it turns out a deadlier strain yet is threatening your heart.

- John Ortberg

Think, Strain, Threatening, Keeps

As much as we complain about it, though, there's part of us that is drawn to a hurried life. It makes us feel important. It keeps the adrenaline pumping. It means I don't have to look too closely at my heart or life. It keeps us from feeling our loneliness.

- John Ortberg

Feel, Part, About, Keeps

The irony is that 'looking down on everybody else' is a violation of the law of love, which, according to Jesus, is the absolute essence of righteousness.

- John Ortberg

Love, Everybody, Which, Violation

What influences our behavior, and what our level of responsibility is, are very complex issues. And anytime we try to make this simplistic, we don't serve people well.

- John Ortberg

Level, Very, Simplistic, Anytime

No one wants pain. Not even long-time, mature Christians who want to grow. We will always find ways to avoid pain. Pain itself is a bad thing.

- John Ortberg

Pain, Always, Christians, Bad Thing

There are usually multiple messages that could be preached from the same text.

- John Ortberg

Same, Could, Multiple, Messages

When people feel they're getting to speak into what's being preached, there is high built-in motivation to participate.

- John Ortberg

Motivation, Participate, Preached

Nobody lives up to the norms that God had in mind when he first created human beings.

- John Ortberg

Mind, Lives, Created, Beings

Real spiritual authority has to do with the truth of the actual words being spoken, and the spirit of the person behind the words. Really, authority is about truth: honest-living truth.

- John Ortberg

Words, Behind, Actual, Spoken

Sin is very important to the soul because sin is what disintegrates the soul; it's what attacks the soul. Sin kind of is to the soul what cancer is to the body.

- John Ortberg

Important, Very, Attacks, Cancer

A bad sermon is like a car wreck - everyone slows down to see what happened.

- John Ortberg

Bad, See, Like, Wreck

Far more books get written about how to get more people in your church than how to get the people already in your church to have more humility and sincere love.

- John Ortberg

Love, More, More People, Sincere

Authentic spiritual authority is what puts you in touch with reality.

- John Ortberg

Spiritual, Authority, Puts, Authentic

The day people around me stop questioning my character is the day my character begins to grow vulnerable.

- John Ortberg

Character, Grow, Begins, Vulnerable

When preaching is done right, it can change lives. When it's done badly, my failure goes beyond the merely human.

- John Ortberg

Goes, Badly, Lives, Merely

Opposition is an inevitable reality of pastoral life.

- John Ortberg

Life, Reality, Inevitable, Opposition

You can only love and be loved to the extent that you know and are known by somebody.

- John Ortberg

Love, Loved, Extent, Only Love

A healthy soul is whole and integrated. It is connected to God. A person with a healthy soul is at peace with God, with himself, and with other people.

- John Ortberg

Connected, Other, Himself, Integrated

We call an obsession with having someone's approval 'co-dependency;' the Bible's word for it is idolatry. A country can be an idol. A family can be an idol.

- John Ortberg

Bible, Country, Call, Idolatry

Better to be a loving person without knowing how you got there, than an expert no one can stand to be around.

- John Ortberg

Expert, Got, Around, Knowing

Love of learning led to monasteries, which became the cradle of academic guilds.

- John Ortberg

Love, Which, Became, Cradle

People cheer the Bible, buy the Bible, give the Bible, own the Bible - they just don't actually read the Bible.

- John Ortberg

Bible, Give, Actually, Cheer

We do not need answers or formulas to minister in crisis.

- John Ortberg

Crisis, Need, Formulas, Minister

The most important criterion is this: hire someone whose character and humility and attitude you would like to have reproduced in your church and in yourself.

- John Ortberg

The Most Important, Hire, Whose

The church is in the hope business.

- John Ortberg

Business, Hope, Church

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